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The Spire Restaurant Review
© October 2005 issue
The Spire Restaurant, Church Lane, Duleek, Co. Meath
041 9823000
We had long wanted to visit the Spire
Restaurant in Duleek, although it is open only a year. We had heard very good
things about the menu so when the occasion of Madame’s birthday came around, I
booked us in for a Saturday night.
The bookings were coming in fast that Saturday as they couldn’t accommodate us
during the popular 8pm time and asked if we might come any earlier or later. 9pm
was agreed.
By 9pm in September it is dark. We drove across empty country roads away from
the coast. To the south, the lights of Dublin clearly lit up the sky, and
looming ahead of us was the cement factory, its huge silos lit up, red signal
lights flashing fifty metres up in the air. It reminded me of a scene from the
industrial Ruhr rather than a quiet part of Meath.
 We
found the Spire in Duleek easily enough, with its floodlights illuminating the
front walls and little blue lights guiding you along the footpath through the
graveyard. We opened the huge church door and were greeted by a cosy coal-gas
fire in a bright little porch. There were tables and seats, just like the
entrance hall to a house but it the windows and thick stone walls said it was
unmistakably a church.
Through another door at the end of the hall and into the main part of the church
and the reception area of the restaurant. The Service Manager greeted us and
asked us to have a seat while our table was made ready. Then a few minutes
later, we were brought upstairs to another waiting area in the balcony, this
time complete with very comfortable leather sofas. From this grandstand
position, we got our first glimpse of the restored interior. It looked great.
The high vaulted ceilings towered over the main part of the restaurant, all
painted white with candle and torch-effect lighting everywhere.
The floor was carpeted in red, a good idea to dampen the acoustics. The music
system was playing the theme from the film “The Mission”. Very apt. The service
manager took our drinks order, she didn’t have to ask what a Kir was, and left
us menus and the wine list.
The menu opened up to reveal everything on its two pages. It was a promising
read. The starters ranged in price from €9.50 to €11.50. I decided to try the
melted Cooleeney cheese, one of Ireland’s finest from Tipperary. Madame went for
a Risotto. Main courses were priced from €23.95 to €28.95 and included all the
main themes, fish, pork, chicken, beef and vegetarian dishes. Soup was offered
from €6.50 to €8.50 while side orders ranged from €4.50 to €5.50. I knew it was
going to be an expensive evening but Madame’s birthday is an increasingly rare
event.
The very strong Kirs arrived and we ordered, then relaxed in the comfy sofas.
Beside us a large mature party were also celebrating. Below in the main
restaurant every table was full, many with couples.
The clientele reflected the prices. Other diners were seated in the balcony just
beside our waiting area. Waiters and waitresses bustled about dressed in classic
French black and white attire. It was a lovely place to relax and feel pampered
and in case we wanted for anything, a wireless buzzer was on the lamp table
beside us.
The same waiter looked after us all night from waiting area to departure, and he
had a sense of humour which goes a long way these days. At last our table was
ready.
To our surprise it was just across in the opposite side of the balcony or
mezzanine as some might say, at the very front. A good grandstand view was
guaranteed.
The lighting was very soft focus, with a hint to the romantic side through a
little candle in a glass vase on the table. Madame approved, soft focus
obviously works well on me. Two types of fresh baked bread with three types of
butter and an oil dip awaited us. The sun dried tomato bread was soon gone.
The starters arrived along with a half bottle of Fleurie from Beaujolais. From
what I could see in the dim light, the presentation was very nice. The Cooleeney
cheese came with a beautiful sweet sauce. It was delicious, Madame said its hard
to go wrong with melted cheese but her vegetable Risotto was very tasty.
No sooner were the starters finished than banana and melon flavoured sorbets
arrived to cleanse the pallets. The restaurant was obviously very busy so the
sorbets were getting soft. Still they served the intended purpose. Then there
was a lull as the kitchen caught up again.
The chef obviously didn’t want his customers too full to enjoy their mains as up
to now, the portions were light but the arrival of the mains proved the wisdom
of his decision. This time the plates were full. The presentation was silver
service, with the waiters on each side of the table simultaneously revealing the
food under the silver domes.
I had ordered the Irish beef fillet with pomme pont neuf, slow roast tomato,
caramelised shallot and forest mushroom cognac. Madame had chosen a escalope of
pork dish with cheese and baked apple.
 Some
chefs see it as an insult when a customer orders a well-done steak, others view
it as a challenge. The results usually range from a blacken crust disguising a
juicy red inside to tough chewy dry cardboard. Not in the Spire. This was a
perfect example of well done beef. The fillet was at least 6cm thick. It was
nicely crusted on the outside, not a hint of blood on the inside yet still soft,
succulent and delicious to taste. Top marks. Again the sauce was full of lots of
sweet flavours. I wondered if the Chef had spent time in America. The side order
of garlic potatoes were absolutely lovely, making up for the over-cooked
vegetable selection which had come with the mains.
My plate was finished and I enjoyed every bit. Madame wasn’t quite able to
finish her pork escalope as the portion was large. Not that this stopped her
asking for the dessert menu. Again this read beautifully with prices from €7.50
to €12.00.
We were both pretty satisfied after the mains but in the interests of doing a
complete review, we sacrificed ourselves and ordered the Assiette of desserts,
an assortment of most things on the menu.
The chocolate parfait was the best hit we decided followed closely by the exotic
fruit cheesecake. . The entire menu can be viewed at www.spirerestaurant.ie.
We finished with coffee. I asked for a Café au Lait, which surprisingly wasn’t
available in a French themed restaurant but a Latte was. Madame had an ordinary
coffee. The latte was very milky, a good finish to the evening.
.By this time, it had gone 11:30pm and we were the last to leave, yet no-one
tried to rush us, we were left to leave at our own leisure. The staff were very
friendly, the service manager chatted and hoped to see us again. She one day
will.
It was a very pleasant evening, the church restoration was done to perfection,
with a great attention to detail. The food was good, and we thought it a lovely
place to bring visiting friends or business colleagues.
Or if you’re on a romantic night out and want to impress, then this is sure to
work. Next time I hear the theme from “The Mission”, I’ll remember a church in
Duleek. §
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The
Meath Coaster
